Timeline for Why is it common in English to address animals as "it"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 30, 2020 at 8:43 | comment | added | shinzou | @michael.hor257k we have a word for "it": זה, it's just not correct to say it to animals and babies. We use it for inanimate objects only. | |
| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:38 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Oct 9, 2016 at 17:04 | comment | added | michael.hor257k | @kuhaku I was just curious how do you say "it" when there's no such word. It's probably not the right place to have this discussion . | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 16:30 | comment | added | shinzou | We don't say the literal translation for "it" for animals, or babies, we use "he" which is a "default gender", it has term in Hebrew that I don't know how to translate. Also, when I think about it, it's a bit informal but in some specific situations you can address animals or babies as "it" but it might be offensive to the parents of the baby. @michael.hor257k | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 16:12 | comment | added | michael.hor257k | @kuhaku So how do you say "it" in Hebrew? | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 15:35 | comment | added | WS2 | @JanusBahsJacquet Personally, I would go to some lengths to avoid referring to a baby as it. "It" does not come over at all well to "its" parents. I speak as a father and grandfather of a few. Expressions like now, am I looking at a little boy or a little girl? are much preferable in my book. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 15:27 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @Janus Terminology, of course. But the fact is that 'she' is what many mariners for instance would have as their default setting. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 15:14 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | @EdwinAshworth That's true; but I'm not sure I'd call that default. I'd think of that rather as marked gender, the gender being here used specifically to mark the affectionateness. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 15:10 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I think that "the ‘default gender’ for non-human entities is no gender, whether the entity in question has a natural gender or not." needs a caveat. 'She' is often used to refer affectionately to ships, cars, locomotives etc (even the 'Duke of Gloucester'). | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 14:53 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @kuhaku May I suggest: 'Referring to a baby or animal as "it" sounds very bad in my language (Hebrew): it's like you don't care that it's alive. A literal translation from the English is better avoided.' | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 13:23 | comment | added | shinzou | @GEdgar I meant literal translation of course. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 12:20 | comment | added | GEdgar | If translation turns something normal in English into something bad in Hebrew, then it is not the fault of English or of Hebrew. It is a poor translation. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 11:36 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | @kuhaku That’s not the case in English. The standard phrase when you want to know the sex of someone’s newborn child is “Is it a boy or a girl?”. Asking, “Is he a boy or a girl?” would sound absolutely ludicrous, akin to asking, “Is that man a man or a woman?”. If you’re talking about adults, then using it is generally seen as offensive, and most people would avoid it (commonly by using singular they), but for babies, that’s not the case. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 11:33 | comment | added | shinzou | Calling a baby or animal "it" sounds very bad when translating to my language (Hebrew), it's like you don't care that it's alive. | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 11:33 | comment | added | Helmar | You usually know perfectly well where to look for a grizzly's gender. You just don't want to get that close ;) | |
| Oct 9, 2016 at 11:30 | vote | accept | shinzou | ||
| Oct 9, 2016 at 11:23 | history | answered | Janus Bahs Jacquet | CC BY-SA 3.0 |